Simon Michael Gallery

The teacher honored here came to Rockport with an unusual war behind him. Simon Michael had lived in Paris in the 1920s. In World War II, stationed at Fort Walters near Mineral Wells, he built life-sized battlefield replicas and helped develop camouflage; the Legion of Merit he received was his most prized possession. His students included Dalhart Windberg, later known for the glowing light in his oils. The Aransas County Historical Commission dedicated this marker on January 30, 2025, outside his pale green former studio among the live oaks.

What the plaque says

Simon Michael Gallery Born in Houtzdale, Pennsylvania, Simon Michael (1905-2002) showed artistic ability at an early age. He became an artist and itinerant art teacher. In 1948, Michael moved to Rockport and established the Fulton School of Painting. He visited neighboring towns including Bay City, Victoria, and later, Corpus Christi, Fredericksburg and other sites. In 1951, Michael purchased five acres in Rockport and established the Simon Michael School of Fine Art. Buildings included a home, gallery and studio, attracting thousands of students. The school established the Rockport-Fulton Art Colony and Rockport Art Association (later Rockport Center for the Arts), which cultivated the vibrant local arts community. (2023)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fulton Mansion State Historic Site — 3.4 mi
  A French Second Empire house of 1874-77 on Aransas Bay, paid for with hides and tallow, with gas lights, central heat and hot running water no other house nearby had.
• Goose Island State Park — 9.5 mi
  A bayside park between St. Charles and Aransas bays, home of the Big Tree, the state champion coastal live oak, thought to be more than a thousand years old.
• Port Aransas — 12 mi
  The fishing town at the north end of Mustang Island, reached by a free state ferry that crosses the ship channel day and night, with a university marine lab begun in a one-room shack.
• USS Lexington Museum on the Bay — 24 mi
  An Essex-class carrier of 1943 moored off North Beach, the Blue Ghost that Tokyo Rose kept reporting sunk, and the Navy's training carrier for nearly three decades after.

More markers nearby

• The Cedars — 0.4 mi
• Baylor-Norvell House — 0.6 mi
• Site of Heldenfels Shipyard — 0.6 mi
• First Methodist Church of Rockport — 0.7 mi